President-elect Donald Trump is considering replacing embattled defense secretary choice Pete Hegseth with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, two sources familiar with the decision-making told NBC News.
One source told NBC News that Trump and DeSantis directly spoke about the issue while another said the governor is "very much in contention."
Watch NBC6 free wherever you are
WATCH HERE
“Trump talked to the governor and wants him to do it,” a source familiar with the conversation told NBC News on Tuesday night.
Get local news you need to know to start your day with NBC 6's News Headlines newsletter.
SIGN UP
Trump and DeSantis appeared together on Tuesday at a ceremony to honor three fallen Palm Beach Sheriff’s deputies who were killed in a crash while in the line of duty.
“I think if it’s offered, he would take it, because it’s hard to say no to the president or the president-elect when they ask you to serve the country in such a big and important role,” said NBC6 political analyst Sean Foreman. “It would really be a tough decision for DeSantis because he’d be leaving a very powerful position as the governor of Florida.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported Tuesday night that DeSantis was under consideration for the Cabinet post.
DeSantis’ office and Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment.
If DeSantis is picked, it would set off a wave of changes in Florida.
Lieutenant Gov. Jeanette Nunez would become governor, which could position the South Florida native as the incumbent gubernatorial candidate.
Nunez would then be the one to replace Sen. Marco Rubio, who is being considered for the Secretary of State job.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AND FLORIDA
“It may very well be that this is helping to sweeten the pot for DeSantis to pick Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara, for that position in exchange Ron DeSantis would get a plum position,” Foreman said.
Last year, when running for president, DeSantis talked about how he would restructure the military.
“We need to end to social experimentation and woke ideology in the military and that involves doing things like eliminating the DEI bureaucracy from the Department of Defense,” DeSantis said.
Nikki Fried, the state’s Democratic Party chair, called the possible DeSantis appointment a grave concern.
“Now he’s actually going to be given an entire military and will have no problem using that military to go after political opponents, to go after those who have been deemed by the Trump administration ad enemies within and he’s someone who gets drunk off power,” Fried said.
As for Hegseth, the decorated veteran has faced allegations involving him and drinking and reports about his treatment of women, including a sexual assault allegation in 2017 over which he was never charged.
Hegseth has denied that he mistreated women and has said the encounter with the woman who accused him of assault, which whom he later reached an undisclosed settlement, was consensual. He did not respond when asked about the drinking allegations Tuesday evening.
In a post to X on Wednesday morning, Hegseth vowed not to withdraw as Trump’s pick, calling the reporting on the allegations against him an attempt to “smear” him “w/fake, anonymous sources & BS stories.”
“Our warriors will never back down, & neither will I,” he said.
DeSantis was in the Navy and served in the Iraq war, eventually earning the rank of lieutenant commander. The 46-year-old has served as Florida's governor since 2019, and is in his final term after winning re-election in 2022.
DeSantis challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in this 2024 cycle and dropped out of the race in January, just days before the New Hampshire primary.
He immediately endorsed Trump despite the two feuding throughout the campaign and the former president nicknaming DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious.” Unlike many of Trump’s other picks for his future Cabinet, DeSantis has stated that Trump lost the 2020 election, while others have echoed the president-elect’s comments that it was stolen.
